Apparatus for annealing bar-like steel bodies



April 5, 1960 FQRRER 2,931,641

APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING BAR-LIKE STEEL BODIES Filed Aug. 26, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hans Forrer April 5, 1960 H. FORRER 2,931,641

APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING BAR-LIKE STEEL BODIES Filed Aug. 26, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 //V/ 7 Hans Forrer by M 2% Pwk April 5, 1960 H. FORRER 2,931,641

APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING BAR-LIKE STEEL BODIES Filed Aug. 26. 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Han S FOFFQ! MW JOE-WAYS. PM ATTORNEYS nited States are APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING BAR-LIKE STEEL BODIES Hans Forrer, Neuenhof, Switzerland, assignor to Aktiengesellschaft Brown, Boveri 8: Cie, Haden, Switzerland, a, company of Switzerland Application August 26, 1958, Serial No. 757,362

Claims priority, application Switzerland September 10, 1957 8 Claims. (Cl. 266-5) more particularly to an improved device for transporting the bodies in succession in'a horizontal attitude into the the bodies in an electrically insulated manner during an healing and thereafter removing the bodies.

In one known apparatus for moving the bodies, which will hereinafter be referred to as bars, into and out of annealing position, the bars are fed one-by-one by a roller type feeding table over a chute and dropped onto a plurality of forks which then lift them into the position for heating, i.e. the annealing position. After the annealing operation has been completed, each bar is then dropped onto ribs arranged obliquely between the guide forks, the bars then sliding on these ribs toward the roller type delivery table. The delivery table is arranged on the side of the annealing axis opposite the feeding table so that a comparatively large space is required for the feed and delivery roller tables, and switches must be provided, in addition, from the roughing train and to the finishing train, respectively of the rolling mill. Besides, this type of feeding and discharge device for the bars to be annealed has the disadvantage that the arrangement of the feeding and delivery elements on both sides results in a limitation in constrnctionof the heating, i.e. the annealing plant, because of the necessary parallel arrangement of the current supply tubes or electrical bus bars to which opposite ends of the bars are electrically connected for heating.

. desired position for the annealing operation, supporting ber in such manner as to establish between overlapped ends thereof a bar receiving and supporting notch, and a power actuated lever which is coupled to the movable supporting member so as to shift the latter between a receiving and holding position for the bar and a releasing position for the same, and wherein the upper inclined surface of the movable supporting member then serves as a slide to permit the bar to slide downwardly along the same parallel to itself onto the discharging roller track. The power actuated lever is also provided with a notch-shapedlining of heat and electrically insulating material such as a ceramic which serves to take over the.

support of the bar from the notch established by the stationary and movable supporting members, the bar then being supported in a heat and electrically insulated manner free and clear of the stationary and movable supporting members during the heating and cooling phase of the annealing operation.

The foregoing as well as other objects and advantages inherent in the invention will become'more apparent from the ffollowing detailed description of one practical embodiment thereof and from the accompanying drawings. In these drawings: c

Fig. l is a longitudinal view showing the general installation, a bar being supported by a plurality of the supporting devices and there being provided electrical contact devices at opposite ends of the bars by which an electric current is conducted longitudinally through the bar for heating the same;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse view through the bar showing the details of construction of one of the supporting devices, the latter being in the position of just having received a bar from the feeding or charging conveyor;

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for transporting the steel bars into and out of annealing position which avoids the above disadvantages and which is extremely simple in construction. Generally speaking, this objective is attained by providing a plurality of like gripping or bar supporting devices distributed in alignment along the length of the bar, the bar 7 being delivered to the supporting devices by a downwardly inclined sliding movement parallel to itself from a first roller track or similar conveyor mechanism located laterally of and above the axis on which the baris to be supported for heating and annealing, and the bar being thereafter released from the supporting devices for a further downwardly inclined sliding movement parallel to itself onto a second roller track or similar conveyor mechanism for removal from the annealing area, the second roller track being arranged beneath the first roller track.

A more particular object of the invention is to provide a plurality of simultaneously actuatable bar supporting devices of the type described distributed along the length of the bar, each such device comprising a stationary sup porting member, a pivotally mounted movable supporting Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the bar supported in the annealing position by the power actuated lever referred to;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the sup porting device in the position occupied after the annealing operation has been completed and the bar is about to be discharged from the annealing position by downwardly inclined sliding movement along the upper face of the movable supporting member; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modified construction wherein bar heating plants are located to each side of the charging and discharging roller tracks.

With reference now to the drawings and in particular to Figs, 2-4, it will be seen that each of the bar supporting devices is comprised of an upwardly inclined, stationary supporting member 1 having its upper end 1a squared off, and a similar upwardly inclined, pivotally mounted supporting member 2 having its upper end 2a slightly rounded off. The pivot mounting for the support member 2 is at 3. As is seen from these views, the fixed and supporting members 1 and 2 are inclined in the direction towards each otherand their upper ends overlap in a mutually sliding relationship so as to' establish therebetween a notch 4 which serves as a support for one point along the steel bar 5 to be heated and annealed.

For controlling movement of the movable supporting member 2, it will be seen that the upper end face 2a thereof includes a slot 212 in which is slidably engaged a pin 6 extending laterally outward from the outer end 5 portion of an actuating lever 7 which ispivotally mountmember cooperative with the stationary supporting memed on a shaft 8. Lever 7 includes an arm portion 7a which is connected to the piston element 9a of a hydraulic motor 9, and the latter serves to shift lever 7 and the movable supporting member 2 between the three positions shown respectively in Figs. 2-4. A single motor device such as the hydraulic motor 9 can be used to actuate all. of the supporting devices distributed alon lb? length of the bar, or individual motors may be utilized for each supporting device.

The outer end of lever 7, which like the supporting members 1 and 2 is metallic, terminates in an L-shaped upwardly facing recess 10 in which is placed a correspondingly configured insert or lining 11 made from a heat and electrically insulating material such as a ceramic. As shown in Fig. 3, this lining 11 takes over the support of the barafter the latter has been initially received in the notch 4 established by the overlapped ends of the supporting members 1 and 2.

- As shown in Fig. 3 a roller track 12 for feeding, i.e.

transporting the bars 5 to the annealing area is located laterally of and above the annealing axis x, i.e. the axis on which the bar 5 is supported during .the heating. and annealing operation, and it will be seen that. a. downwardly inclined ramp 13 extends from the discharge end of the roller track 12 to a point in the vicinity of the TI overlapped end portions of the supporting members 1 and 2 so that a bar sliding down the ramp parallel to itself will come to rest in the notch 4. A second roller track 14 for removing the bars 5 after completion of the annealing operation is located laterally of and below and on the same side of the annealing axis x as is the roller track 12. That is, the discharge roller track 14 is located beneath the feeder roller track 12.

Conductive tubular members 15 extend parallel with the annealing axis x on each side thereof respectively i and serve as a source of electrical power suppiy to which the bar end contacts 16 shown in Fig. l are connected.

The manner in which the apparatus operates is believed to be understandable from the description which has been given but can be summarized as follows:

The bars 5 to be heated and annealed arrive from the roughing train of the rolling mill on the feeding roller track 12. From this track, the bars are pushed in regular intervals by a pushing device 17 onto the ramp 13 where they slide downwardly parallel to themselves into the notches 4 formed at the supporting devices distributed along the length of the bar to the position shown in Fig. 2. The levers 7 associated with each of the supporting devices are now raised thus causing the bars to be contacted by the L-shaped linings 11 and raised to the position shown in Fig. 3 free and clear of the supporting members 1 and 2. With the bar in the position shown in Fig. 3, current is caused to pass through the bar from one end thereof to the other and thus heats the same .by the resistance principle to proper temperature for annealing. After the annealing phase is completed, lever '1' is then lowered to the position shown in Fig. 4. Here it will be seen that lowering of lever 7 causes the movable supporting member 2 also to be lowered, due to the pinand-slot connection therebetween, to a position wherein the bar 5 is then free to slide by gravity off the end face In of support member 1 onto and along the downwardly inclined upper face 20 of supporting member 2 whereupon it is discharged onto the roller track 14 and removed.

Preferably, all elements It, 2 and 7 of the supporting devices distributed along the length of the bar are detachable so that a longitudinal displacement of the contact devices 16 at the bar ends is easily possible in order to adapt'the bar heating and annealing plant to different bar lengths. The construction of the devices as described together with the roller tracks 12 and is superposed at one and the same side of the annealing axis x provides an extremely simplified arrangement for the entire plant, since transport switches for conveying the bars are unnecessary.

It is also possible within the scope of the invention to provide heating plants of the type described for bars to the left and right of the charging and discharging roller tracks respectively. An arrangement of this kind is illus trated in Fig. 5. On each'side of the roller tracks can alsobe arrangedat-least two annealing plants in series,

and each being equipped with a bar supporting device as described, a single feeding and delivery track being sufficient for all the annealing plants.

The bar charging and discharging device, i.e. the supporting device as shown in Figs; 2-4 is also suitable for centering the bar to be heated. This is illustrated in Fig. '1 which shows in a somewhat more schematic manner a bar heating plant with a bar in place. As is evident from Fig. 1, aplurality of the bar supporting devices are used for supporting the bar through its entire length. Two outer bar supporting devices S each as shown in Figs. 24 are located respectively close to the ends of the bar 5, and two'inner bar supporting devices S likewise as shown in Figs. 2-4 are located between the outer supporting devices S and at equal distances from the center of the bar. The two outer supporting devices S are adjusted for the annealing axis of the bar while the interposed supporting devices S can be adapted to a curvature of the bar, if necessary, in such a way that they constantly exert a pressure on the bar from the bottom to the top, so that a straightening effect is achieved as soon as the bar is in the annealing state. The centering of the bar by the supporting devices S can also be enhanced very effectively by the side contacts 16a of the contact devices 16 at the bar ends, if the contact pressure in the clamped position is produced by the springs 16b. The structural details of the contact devices 16 are described more completely in my co-pending application Serial No. 757,409, filed August 26,1958, now US. Patent 2,876,336. The respective actions of the bar supporting devices S and springs 16b in order to obtain a straightening effect can be produced by additional force-producing means such as spring systems, for example, or counterweights, or the motor 9 can naturally also be. used for such purpose.

In conclusion, it is to be understood that while the foregoing embodiment which has been described is to be preferred, various modifications can be made in the construction and arrangement of component parts without, however, departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for supporting an elongated bar in a horizontal position to be electrically heated for annealing comprising a plurality of bar supporting devices located in spaced relation along the bar supporting axis, each of said supporting devices comprising a pair of cooperative supporting members, one of which is movable in relation to the other, means for actuating said movable supporting member to a first position wherein the ends of said supporting members are overlapped so as to estabiish between the end faces thereof a bar receiving and supporting notch and thence to a second position wherein said bar is released from the notch, roller tracks located laterally of and above said bar supporting axis for feeding said bars parallel to themselves in succession to said supporting devices, and roller tracks located laterally of and below said bar supporting axis and on the same side of said axis as is said bar feeding means for discharging said bar after annealing and release from said bar supporting devices.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 and which further includes a second plurality of bar supporting devices each as defined in claim 1 and located in spaced rela tion along a second bar supporting axis disposed at the other side of said bar feeding and discharging means.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein those bar supporting devices located at the bar ends serve to establish the annealing axis of the bar, and wherein those other bar supporting devices located between the bar end supporting devices serve to exert a constant upward pressure against any existing curvature in the bar so as to etfe-ct a straightening thereof.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said cooperative supporting members is pivotally mounted 5 for movement relative to the other supporting member which is stationary. r

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said cooperative supporting members is pivotally mounted for movement relative to the other supporting member which is stationary, and wherein said means for actuating said pivotally mounted supporting member is constituted by a power actuated lever coupled thereto.

6. Apparatus for supporting an elongated bar in a horizontal position to be electrically heated for annealing comprising a plurality of bar supporting devices located in spaced relation along the bar supporting axis, each said supporting device comprising a first stationary supporting member, a second pivotally mounted supporting member, said first and second supporting members being inclined towards each other, a power actuated lever coupled to said movable supporting member, the outer end of said lever including a bar supporting heat and electrically insulating lining, said lever being movable to a first position wherein the free ends of said first and second supporting members are overlapped so as to establish between the end faces thereof a bar receiving notch, thence upwardly to a second position wherein said bar is engaged by said lining and raised to a heating and annealing position free and clear of said bar receiving notch, and thence downward to a third bar releasing position wherein said bar is free to slide off the end face of said stationary support member onto and along the inclined upper face of said movable supporting member, means located laterally of and above said bar supporting axis for feeding said bars parallel to themselves in succession to the bar receiving notch established by each said supporting device when said lever occupies said first position, and means located laterally of and below said bar supporting axis and on the same side of said axis as is said bar feeding means for discharging said bars after annealing.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said stationary and movable supporting members and said lever are detachable to permit longitudinal displacement of electrical contact devices adapted to engage the bar ends.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said lever is coupled to said movable supporting member by a pin and slot connection.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,321,530. Macdonald Nov. 11, 1919 1,541,118 Cole June 9. i925 1,695,433 Mrcdonald Dec. 18, 1928 1,700,697 'Draper Jan. 29, 1929 

